Chuck vs his Brother
by Purrum
Summary: Sarah discovers a Bartowski family secret
1. Chapter 1

This is a story about Chuck's older less known brother.

The mission was a bust, Casey and Sarah had to shoot their way out of a volatile situation.

As they were running back to the Crown Vic they saw that one of the bad guys had bailed up Chuck. Chuck was standing at the front of the car with his hands up in a surrender pose. The bad guy had started to raise his gun and extend his arm out to possibly shoot Chuck in the head. We don't know because Casey fired a shot the hit the bad guy in the side of his head and that made his brains explode out the other side where the bullet passed through.

Sarah gasped as both men in front of her instantaneously fell to the ground. As she drew close she could see that the bad guy was missing the top of his head but what about Chuck? Chuck was lying on the ground in a foetal position rocking and shaking uncontrollable next to the dead goon. He appeared to be having a seizure.

Casey was first to the car, he briefly looked at his handiwork and got in the driver seat and started the car. Sarah slid to a stop once she had reached Chuck and grabbed his to see if he was alright.

Sarah found that Chuck was non-responsive and she called Casey to help her lift Chuck into the back of the car. Casey got out and assisted in picking Chuck up and throwing him into the back seat before getting back in the driver's seat and driving away. Sarah was candling Chuck's head in the back seat as Chuck was lying across the back seat. During the drive home she thought she hear Chuck say one word; "Brian". She was unaware of any Brian's in Chuck's life, no employee at Buymore was call that, no one Chuck had ever mentioned was that name either. She wondered for a time if in fact he said Bryce but Chuck said nothing more. The two spies decide to take Chuck home and put him to bed and then file a report to Beckman. Sarah opted to stay the night in an effort to kept an eye on Chuck. As the day turn to evening she decided to wear one of Chuck's t-shirts and climb into bed and cuddle him for the night.

The next morning she was woken by the noise of Chuck's best friend trying to enter through the Morgan door. Morgan was around because the boys had organized a car pool as Morgan's bike had a puncture. He was just as surprise as Sarah being there but he gave a sly smile.

"Sorry for interrupting, he apologised, "We had agreed to carpool this morning! So you two had a good night sleep?" He said with a sly grin.

The illusion that Morgan had that the couple had sex during the night was shattered when he noticed Chuck's non responsive state.

"What exactly did you two get up to last night?"

Sarah lied, "We had been to a movie and that it had a violent ending. It was very graphic and Chuck was affected by it. He's been like this for most of the night."

Sarah took the opportunity to quiz Morgan.

"Morgan, does Chuck know anyone named Brian?

Morgan's face dropped, he lowered his gaze and started muttering to himself. He also commenced walking in very tight circles and before he raised his head and started to recollect a long repressed childhood memory.

"Chuck had a brother!" Morgan just blurted it out.

"Chuck had a brother!" Sarah gasped in shock. "Chuck has a brother!"

"Had!... He's dead." Morgan's gaze once again was focused on the floor.

Sarah's mind started to recall all of the CIA briefing notes on Chuck, there was no mention of a older brother. Here was Morgan who had let the cat out of the bag by mentioning a family secret the agency didn't know about. Sarah needed to get Morgan to talk. She also wondered why Chuck had never mentioned him, she had thought that Chuck was an open book but it now appeared that he was capable in keeping a few secrets himself. A part of her wanted to scold herself for not finding out about this family secret. As a skilled interrogator getting Morgan to talk would be no problem, but would he do it in front of Chuck, even if Chuck is non responsive in his bed?

By the time Morgan had lifted his gaze, Sarah was up, out of bed and casually dressed. She beckoned Morgan to follow her out the door and into the apartment's kitchen where she indicated to him to take a seat on one of the a little encouragement, Morgan told the story of Chuck's older brother, Brian Frost.

"Brian was actually Chuck's half brother, Brian's mother Mary, had Brian to another relationship before she had met Stephen Bartowski. Brian was eight years older than Ellie and eleven years older than Chuck. Brian was difficult person to like, in fact Brian had behavioural issues and he was at times uncontrollable to everyone except his mother. Morgan didn't like Brian because he was a bully to Chuck and himself. While Chuck could keep Morgan safe from the bullies at school, at the Bartowski's it was a different story. Brian who wasn't like his step siblings, he was a short stout person and had a ruddy complexion. Stephen could not control him, but Stephen was using some unconventional ways to what he believed could help Brian adjust to adult life. Mr B was always running tests on the boy."

"One day just before Chuck's ninth birthday, I was visiting and we were playing a game of Monopoly. Brian had returned home later that afternoon and he found us in Chuck's bedroom and deliberately set about to upset the game. Brian's favourite trick was to pinch some of the playing pieces; he had a habit of taking a few pieces out of the jigsaw box and hiding them so no one could complete the jigsaw because of the missing pieces. He would do this regularly, so a 500 piece jigsaw was useless because of the missing bits."

"On this occasion Brian had entered Chuck's bedroom without being invited in, he had noticed that the two young boys were playing a board game on the floor. After Brian made a few unflattering comments which the boys tried to ignore, Brian then moved in and upset the game by lashing out and kicking the board and the pieces away with his foot. Brian slipped when he did this and he lost balance and fell to the floor, landing on both of us. It hurt and I struck out and kicked Brian with my heel to Brian's head. Brian responded by swinging his arm and punching me in the stomach. Chuck wanting to protect his friend then jumped on top of Brian making sure he drove his knees into Brian's ribs. I quickly recovered and jumped on Brian as well. The volume of the shouting, screaming and crying coming from Chuck's room alerted Mrs B that an fight was happening, Mary rushed in as Brian , who had managed to free himself had reached out and grabbed Chuck's baseball bat and was now using it as a weapon, he swung it around and he threatened to beat us with it. Mary snatched the bat out of Brian's grip and then ordered him out of the room. Brian was forced to exit but as he did I let fly some very vulgar language. Mrs. B wanted to send me home but first she had to stop the bleeding from my bloodied nose. Mrs B administered some first aid in the bathroom."

"Brian had gone outside and went to his car. He called Chuck out to come a see this. Chuck knowing the vindictiveness of his brother went to see what disaster the older sibling would commit. When Chuck was watching from the relative safety of the front porch of the house, Brian pulled a pistol out and shot himself in the head. He died where he fell. Chuck could visibility see the blood and brain matter oozing out of the head wound. On hearing the gunshot, Chuck's parents came rushing out from different parts of the house to see the end result. An ambulance was called and a coroner was dispatched. Everybody had to give a statement, me included."

"Chuck later told me that at the time, a very loud yelling match his parents had that night, and the tension in the house was tight for days. Chuck's birthday plans were ruined because of Brian's funeral. The only present he received that day came from his sister as his parents attention was on other matters."

"Shortly afterwards Mrs B disappeared and hasn't been heard of since that day. She had sent the kids to school and that's the last they saw of her. I don't know whether Mr B even reported her missing. I do know that Mrs B was an accomplished cook but Chuck's dad was close to useless in the kitchen.

"Whatever Stephen had been working on in his workshop was left unattended for weeks as Stephen questioned his role in the whole drama. A short while later Stephen would lock himself in the workshop for days at a time and that left Ellie to cook and feed her younger brother."

"Now you know why Chuck doesn't like guns." Morgan finished his recollection.

Sarah went to the display fridge and pulled out a couple of Grape soda's and gave them to Morgan.

"They're on me" she said, "Thank you for sharing."

Morgan smiled as he accepted his bounty and after bidding farewell he then proceeded to find another way to get to work.


	2. Chapter 2

**This little tale started off as a one chapter only but as the majority of my reviewers wanted more so I raked my brain and added a bit. For those who took the time to leave a comment I thank you.**

Sarah wasn't really thinking of anything when she heard the rustling of keys in the door lock of Casa Bartowski. She wasn't alarmed as she knew it would either be Ellie or Devon returning from a long shift at the Westside Hospital.

It was probably better that it was in fact Devon coming through the door. He had put his keys down in the bowl near the door and casually wandered over to where Sarah was sitting in the kitchen.

"Hey Sarah. It's nice to see you this morning, but aren't you going to be late for work?"

"Oh Devon, it's good that you're home. Something is not right with Chuck! "

"He didn't take any pills did he? No acid, reefers, speed, roofies? That sore of thing".

"Oh no nothing like that, Morgan thinks it's in response to the movie we saw last night." She said remembering the lie she had told to Chuck's friend. "The movie had a gory ending and Chuck has responded to it by withdrawing into himself and he has barely said a word". She added with a voice of concern.

"So where is he now?"

"He's still in bed, he still hasn't said anything."

"Well we better have a close look at the Chuckster and see if we can get him out of it." Devon said as he grabbed his bag and headed into Chuck's bedroom."

Sarah followed the doctor into the bedroom, Chuck was still in bed but he was awake but he didn't seem to notice his surroundings.

Devon using more force than he would in hospital approached the bed and then he pulled back the sheets and then pulled Chuck up into a sitting position.

"Come on big fella. Let the doctor have a look at you." While holding Chuck steady with one arm he used the other to place his stethoscope against Chuck's chest to check his heartbeat and breathing. After a couple of minutes in which he listened to the internal working of Chucks organs , which included listening from Chuck's back as well as his front, Devon then pulled out his pocket light and shone his light backward and forward across Chucks eyes.

"So, Sarah, you said the movie had a gory ending, what happened?"

"The bad guy got shot in the head and blood and brains spurted out. The movie ended and we left, Chuck was not his usual chatty self. He was quiet, whereas he would normally discuss the film with me and see if I was interested in a coffee somewhere. He didn't seem right to me so we come back to here. He seemed to be disturbed about something and he just wasn't himself. I couldn't get him out of the car when we got here so I had to ask the neighbour, John Casey, to help me get him inside. John helped me getting Chuck to bed; all Chuck did was curl into a foetal position."

"Hmm, Sarah, Go to the freezer and get a cold pack for me then met us in the bathroom."

Sarah left the bedroom and headed to the kitchen. While she was gone Devon effortlessly picked Chuck up and carried him to the bathroom. When she got to the bathroom she was surprised and a little embarrassed as Devon had Chuck standing upright, leading forward on the vanity unit without any clothes on. She then noticed that Devon was adjusting the water temperature in the shower. She didn't know where to look but she had a quick glance at Chuck's behind, well she liked what she saw.

"Right." Devon said to Sarah then he registered that she was uncomfortable with state of Chuck's undress. Devon grabbed Chuck and turned him so he was facing the shower. With Devon as support he was standing there naked leaning forward on Devon.

"What I want you to do is place the cold pack against the small of his back, about here." He pointed to a spot just below Chuck's kidneys. Sarah did as instructed; she placed the cold pack against Chuck's back and quickly stood back as Chuck reacted. He screamed and jerked forward but as Devon had a hold of him no harm came from it. Chuck began to shake his head, then he realised that he was looking Devon square in the eye.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Chuckster, don't freak out, go and jump into the shower." He stood aside to allow Chuck to pass and enter the shower. Devon looked at Sarah who was still standing there with the cold pack in her hand. Her expression was something like a rabbit caught in the spotlight. She knew she had been caught ogling Chuck's butt and Devon knew it. Devon just gave a wry smile as he got closer to her.

"You better get him some clothes." Devon said as he past her and walked out the door.

The shower did Chuck a world of good, he was now more aware of his surroundings then he realised that Devon wasn't speaking to him but to someone else. Slowly he stuck his head around the shower curtain and got a surprise. He looked wide eyed at Sarah still standing in the bathroom holding the cold pack in her hand. Even though he was hidden behind the curtain he was still self conscious to feel embarrassed by his nakedness.

He stayed behind the curtain, but he could a see a shadow approach and he knew she had come forward to say something.

In a low soft voice Sarah informed him, "Chuck, I told everyone we went a saw a gory movie, that's our cover. I'll but some clothes out on your bed then you can join us in the kitchen for a coffee."

Chuck finished his shower; he turned the water of and wrapped a towel around his middle. He moved to the bedroom and found that Sarah had put a works uniform for him to wear. He dressed quickly then joined the others in the kitchen.

He was greeted with a smile from both friends and then he grabbed and sipped from his cup of coffee.

"We'd appreciate if you didn't say anything to Ellie."

"Why Bro?"

"Well it's kind of embarrassing."

"Ellie and I don't have any secrets." Devon replied defiantly. "Besides this is her specialty."

"I know, and you know how much of a mother hen she is to me. She'll poke and prod me for god knows how long."

"Come on Bro, she has your best interest at heart."

"Yeah, well, I'm not saying to keep it as a secret just to let this incident slide for a while."

He was feeling much better, relaxed until the door opened and Ellie walked in.

"Let what slide?"


	3. Chapter 3

**This little tale started off as a one chapter only but as the majority of my reviewers wanted more so I raked my brain and added a bit. For those who took the time to leave a comment I thank you. This is the last instalment**

**Chapter 3**

It's that awkward moment when you know that you have been found out. Chuck certainly felt it now and he would have the face the fact that Ellie may go ballistic at him and Sarah.

"What's going on?"

Ellie knew something was up, by the sudden silence and the abrupt end to the conversation.

It was Devon who broke the ice, "Chuck had an incident and I was required to snap him out of it."

"What sort of incident?" Ellie was looking directly at Sarah and Chuck.

"We went to a movie last night and the final scene the bad guy gets shot in the head..." Sarah started to say.

"... And Chuck slipped into a stupor." Ellie finished Sarah's sentence.

"You're seen this happen before?"

"It's happened a couple of times, usually with Morgan, he thought it was funny the first time it happened."

Ellie, who was Brian? Sarah asked , knowing that Morgan had told her of his version, Sarah was sure that Ellie would have a more accurate recollection as she was family and more importantly 3 years older.

Ellie looked at Sarah then moved past her and went to a cabinet in the lounge room and pulled out an old photo album that Sarah, surprisingly had never bothered to look at, for a spy, photo albums were a goldmine of information and pictures. Sarah realised that in that cabinet was a wealth of information she could use to keep control of her asset. There would be pictures of Chuck growing up and who his friends were; there would be pictures of Chuck's lost lovers, i.e. Jill. Sarah hadn't seen a photo of Jill, there was not one in any of the CIA files of Bartowski, and Chuck didn't have any photos of her on display anywhere. The few photos's that Chuck had on display were of him and Morgan costume playing as Star Wars characters.

Ellie returned to the kitchen servery and placed the photo album on the bench top. She opened the album up to reveal old family photographs. After turning the first page she stops and then points to a photo of a young boy.

"That's Brian at eight. This was taken at the time Mom was pregnant with me. Our parents married when I was 4 months old. Here another shot of him holding me as a baby."

The four of them glanced through the photo album, noting how much the siblings didn't look anything like each other.

"Here's one of the few family portraits we had done, Chuck was only a baby when this was taken."

Sarah leaned forward for a better look, she had never seen a photo of Chuck's parents, and there were none in the CIA file that was in her procession. As she looked at a family portrait a range of emotions surfaced which she had to force back down. What she now knew that this was a troubled family, and there would be a lot of pain for the children. She couldn't help but think that the mother looked strangely familiar. Chuck obviously took after his dad but there was little of Ellie in her mother, but they did produce beautiful children.

"Brian was a special needs child; he had a congenital condition, Asperger syndrome. Brian would do anything for me. He was very protective of me but alas poor Chuck copped the roth of Brian. Initially Brian ignored the baby Chuck but as Chuck got older and started to walk then the viciousness set in. You couldn't have Brian and Chuck in the same room without someone, usually Chuck in tears.

It was about the time my father started conducting tests on Brian. Dad would make him wear a helmet and had him wired up and expose him to all sorts of medical tests. My father believed that his tests were making a big difference to the way Brian coped with the world and more importantly treat Chuck with more dignity and respect. Chuck of course was too young to remember or maybe he just forgot the difficult times when Brian was home.

By the time Chuck was six and had his best friend and neighbour, Morgan Grimes, come over to play it would require a parent to keep a close vigil on the boys especially if Brian was home. That role usually fell to Mom but Dad would do it on occasions, but Dad was often preoccupied and would wander off only to be recalled as the screaming and crying started.

Dad would then have to drag Brian away from the boys and physically restrain him. As you can see Brian was a little ball of muscle, and the older he got the harder it was to deal with him. We eventually found alternative accommodation for him, where he would come home at the weekends. Dad had Chuck playing as many sports as possible to avoid the tension that Brian brought home.

As Brian got older he got himself a car, I'm not sure how he got his licence, but he would drive for miles and miles. He started to become more independent so he wouldn't come home as frequently, so we wouldn't see him for weeks. It was good for Chuck and Morgan as before the weekends were like tip toeing through a minefield for them.

Whatever Dad was up to, seemed to keep Brian away, whenever he was home Dad would run some test, some experiment and it often gave him headaches.

And then came the fatal day Brian shot himself, we hadn't seen him for a few weeks before he returned home later that afternoon. He found Chuck and Morgan in Chuck's bedroom and deliberately started a fight.

Brian moved in and upset the game the boys were playing and a fight broke out. Mom had to rush in as Brian was threatening the boys with Chuck's baseball bat. Mom managed to get the bat off Brian and told him to get out of the house.

Brian went to his car and pulled out a gun then shot himself in front of Chuck. Chuck had to watch as Brian died in the drive way."

Ellie began to have a distance look on her face before she continued.

"That night my parents started screaming at each other, it was a very loud yelling match and it continued for weeks. The only respite was Brian's funeral. Once the funeral was over the yelling started again, be this time it never cooled off. Unfortunately the funeral was also Chuck's birthday and no one had noticed."

"What were they yelling about?" Sarah asked.

"From what I gather it was about Dad and his research. Mom blamed Dad for Brian's death, claiming Dad had put the idea into his head. Dad denied it of course, claiming there was no component in his testing to do that sort of thing. He would lock himself in his lab and check and recheck his programs, he was in there for days at a time.

Shortly afterwards Mom sent us off to school and she disappeared and that's the last we saw of her. Dad blamed himself and became reclusive. He never recovered and then one day he was gone as well.

Brian's room was always off limits to us but after Dad left it was only a matter of time before Chuck and I checked it out. Mom had kept the room locked but we knew where she put the key.

Eventually we had to clean out Brian's room. We couldn't continue to live where we were so I had to sell the house. He had an interesting collection of magazines, he had some porn that I didn't allow Chuck to look at, threw those mags straight in the bin and Brian was fixated with true crime novels, especially murders that involved children, he kept newspaper clipping of some horrendous murders in California, especially those that had young boys and men killed.

It was a mistake to have Morgan help when we were cleaning out the house"

"Why that?" Sarah asked.

"Morgan got into everything, he was more of a nuisance than a helper, I pretty sure he is the reason I lost half of my lacy tops and panties."

"Seeing that you are uncovering the skeletons in our families closet" …

Chuck walked out and several minutes returned with a large beige envelope that had the Buy More logo on one corner. He threw the envelope so it would land on the kitchen bench and slide into Ellie's hands. Ellie and the others looked at him nonplussed. Then all eyes were focused on the envelope. The envelope had a string wrapped around the studs to keep the envelope contents intact. Ellie slowly unwound the string and tilted the envelope so the contents would slip out. On top was and legal document, request a DNA sample from Charles Bartowski.

"I got subpoenaed to provide a sample for a paternity test. They served me in the BuyMore."

That got everybody's attention.

"Jill was pregnant when I left Sandford."

Three sets of eyes were staring at him.

"What? I didn't know!"

Also in the papers was a restraining order stating Chuck was not allowed to contact the plaintive, (Jill).

"You can imagine what a wonderful day that was, subpoenaed and a restraining order, both before lunch. And to cap off a shitty day I was lumbered with the costs for the testing."

"Not Awesome" came from Devon.

"The restraining order was Jill's parents way of saying that I wasn't good enough for their daughter."

"Of all the nerve!" Ellie gasped with spite. " you're more than good enough for any girl in California!"

"Anyway I get a letter saying I'm the paternal father and then I hear nothing more. No demand for child support, no visitation rights, nothing. So I hacked into California Department of Public Health Vital Records because I hadn't heard anything from the California Department of Child Support Services. It took a while until I found this."

Chuck pulled out a death certificate for a Rose Roberts.

"My baby was dead and I was never informed. And what's worst, if you check the dates, my baby had died in utero two weeks before I was told I was the father."

"Bummer" came softly from Devon's lips.

"Well as long as we are revealing family secrets..."

All eyes turned to Ellie.

"I have a secret I want to share! At seventeen I had an abortion!"

That was news to Chuck "Oh Elle", he said with a tone of shock and disappointment

"Don't you dare go all high and moral on me! If I didn't have that abortion I would never have been able to become a doctor and you" as she pointed a finger at him" would never had been allowed to go to Sandford."

That shut Chuck up quick smart.

"You remember all those rumours circulating around school. Those weren't rumours, just stupid boys who couldn't keep their mouths shut. Six months after Dad disappeared I was an emotional mess. I had no one to turn to, Chuck was too dependent on me to mother him and I was looking for comfort any way I could. I started to sleep around with the boys in my year. I admit I was the Encino High slut, I got invited out because the boys knew what would happen in the back seat later on."

"So who did you get pregnant too?" Chuck quizzed.

"I'm not sure; I think it was probably with Doug Wald."

"You think you got pregnant to Douggie Wald? And you're not sure."

Ellie stared at him hard. "I was banging so many guys it could have been any one of them. Once I realised I was pregnant I booked myself in at the family planning clinic and had the procedure straight away."

"You never told Douggie Wald that he got you pregnant and you went off and had an abortion without telling him."

"Douggie Wald was a very religious, and he would have insisted on me to do the "right thing", He would have wanted me to marry him. Talk about a life sentence, all he had was a nice car."

Devon was by now trying to reduce the tension that had built up in the room, he knew he had to say something, anything to break the ice.

"I got picked up for DUI in Chicago." Devon mused. "Me and a couple of frat buddies hit the town pretty hard one night and I got caught."

It was Ellie who made the next comment.

"Are there any secrets that you would wish to reveal, Sarah?"

All eyes looked at her.

"No"

She knew the moment the little word got past her lips that she would regret it, Chuck was in a agitated state and was likely to do something unpredictable. This was new territory for her

Chuck and Ellie both left the room and went to their respective rooms, Devon and Sarah could hear loud slamming doors.

Sarah looked at Devon for some kind of support , she hesitated as to whether follow Chuck to his room or not. It was Devon who set it straight.

"Sarah, you might as well go home. Those two will calm down in their own time and until they do there is not much either of us can do. They'll be right, they will bounce back, they're been through worst, after all they still have each other and that is one bond that can't be broken."

"I guess you are right" Sarah said as she picked up her belongings, "tell Chuck I'll see him tomorrow."

Sarah left, but rather than go to her car she ducked across to Casey's place and got Casey to let her in. She was going to use the NSA bugs to monitor Chuck's state of mind and mood. Once satisfied that Chuck was going to be alright she went back to her hotel and let Casey monitor him for the rest of the night.


End file.
